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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Obama Regime Still Imprisons Leonard Peltier

The U.S. White Corporate Male Power Structure’s latest president, Barack Obama, promised to bring “change” to the United States during his 2008 election campaign. Yet the Obama Regime has not yet released U.S. political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

One reason Obama has not immediately released Leonard Peltier may be because the Obama Regime’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is the wife of the Democratic President who refused to order the release of Leonard Peltier from federal prison in the 1990s. As the now-deceased William Kunstler noted in My Life As A Radical Lawyer, his 1994 autobiography:

“Leonard Peltier most recently appealed in Nov. 1992 with Ramsey Clark as his main attorney…

“In May 1993, I wrote to Hillary Rodham-Clinton in response to a rather terse letter she had sent to one of Leonard’s new lawyers, Eric Seitz, who had requested a presidential review of the case. She wrote to Seitz that her husband had no power to interfere in an ongoing criminal case. In my letter to Mrs. Clinton, I criticized her for her cold response to Seitz’s reasonable letter and informed her that she was quite incorrect about limits on presidential interference in criminal cases. She should have recalled former President Bush’s pardon of the indicted Caspar Weinberger…

“I only hope that I live long enough to see Leonard free…”

But U.S. political prisoner Peltier was still imprisoned by the Demcratic Clinton Regime on the day Kunstler died.

A recent letter to Leonard Peltier supporters from Peltier’s sister, Betty Peltier-Solano, indicated how Peltier has apparently been treated lately inside the U.S. federal prison system:

“I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.

“We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner. He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won’t name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.

“This attack on LP comes on the heels of the FBI’s recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit LP as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator. It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage “it takes an Indian to catch an Indian”. In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with LP. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM. When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on Leonard’s behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.

“We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for his continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers. The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!

“Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that LP is receiving adequate medical attention for his injuries.

“I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don’t know what else to do. Please Help!

2 comments:

Blake
said...

Feldman, is Hillary the Ruler of the Universe? This is just garbage. Barack's a grown man and will do what he wants. When you work Hillary attacks in for no reason, you come off like a sexist. As for her letter, as you have summarized it, she was correct. Her husband, a sitting president, could not interfere with an ongoing case. Could he pardon Peltier? Yes, at any time he wanted if he wanted to. But that's different from what you're conveying in this post.

Actually, to assume that the much more politically experienced wife of a former U.S. President and major 1990s Democratic Party fund-raiser won't be capable of exercising a special influence over the Obama regime's policies (similar to how the Rockefeller-linked Kissinger exercised a special influence over the Nixon regime's policies)is a sexist notion.

Also, to hold Hillary Clinton to a lower ethical standard than male Democratic Party politicians just because of her gender actually represents a condescending "liberal sexist" way of analyzing U.S. Establishment politics.

Similarly, to hold Harvard Law School graduate Obama to a lower ethical standard than white Democratic Party politician just because of his racial background actually represents a condescending "liberal racist" way of analyzing U.S. Establishment politics.

Since William Kunstler had a long history of both following the legal appeals of the Leonard Peltier frame-up between the late 1970s and early 1990s and working on many other legal cases involving political repression in the USA, I think supporters of Leonard Peltier's immediate release in 2009 should assume that Kunstler's negative evaluation of Hillary Clinton's early 1990s letter justifying the failure of the Clintons to release Peltier was accurate.

But like you indicate, a sitting president like Barack Obama can pardon Leonard Peltier "at any time he wanted if he wanted to." So then why hasn't a sitting president who promised to stand up for human rights and bring "change" to the United States immediately pardoned and released Leonard Peltier from prison (especially since even some of B.O.'s wealthy campaign supporters in 2008, like Hollywood entertainment industry mogul David Geffen, apparently favor the immediate release of Leonard Peltier)?